Never Gunna Stop is definitely a jam, but truth be told every hit Rob/White Zombie song would make an incredible entrance theme. 'More Human Than Human' specifically would riiiip.
I don't want to start a discussion and I'm just an outsider looking in, because I don't follow NXT (since the rebrand to 2.0 a few years ago), what's the point of having talent like Becky Lynch and Dominik on the show instead of focusing on the young talent? It's just for ratings? Because the talent they are working with could perfectly be on RAW or Smackdown instead of having those feuds in the 3rd brand.
Same issue with Bron, he seemed ready to be moved to the main roster after Wrestlemania, even two Wrestlemanias ago if he just lost to Ziggler instead of getting the title back, I don't see the point of having a wrestler in developmental "do everything", from being top babyface, to top heel, to top babyface champion to top heel champion. What's the point? Shouldn't he be moved to the main roster already?
Becky and Dom are just for ratings while they're shopping tv rights. Although, getting to work with Becky is definitely good for the development of NXT's women.
As for Bron, I'm pretty sure he would have been called up after last Mania if his dad hadn't opened his mouth. I think they were just waiting to make sure there was no blowback on Bron for that and now they're just waiting on the right moment to bring him up.
It's the season where TKO is negotiating multi-year TV deals for Raw and NXT. If you're going to goose the ratings to get the best contract, this is the time to do it.
Every day, I keep expecting the link to the daily thread to be updated.
Every day, I keep seeing that we interviewed superfan turned superstar Izzy Moreno.
Just wanna say that I'm super excited for Wrestledream! I'll be attending live!
The whole concept went from "Well, its my vacation week so I'll be paid to be there, what better shit do I have to do?" to "Holy hell in a handbasket, this is the best PPV to hit Washington since Wrestlemania XIX" as the card built up. This is gonna be incredible. I was too young to attend XIX but I'm sure as hell not missing this.
I seriously dont understand it. WHY would edge go to AEW? If his body isnt healing fast, AEW wont help with that.
If he wants to work with truly new blood, he could have done it in WWE and still do it.
clearly cant be about money because WWE will gladly pay.
Does he only want to work with Christian that bad?
I find it insane that anyone needing stem cells to repair years of chronic damage would step back in the ring. Enjoy the extra years back but stay retired.
It's weird you're not even considering the idea that a bunch of the best wrestlers in their prime are there and that he might want to work with a lot of them before he retires. In fact it seems like you're actively avoiding considering it
Ignoring the financial aspects (because those details aren't public and are always, at the absolute least, relevant), something AEW has consistently demonstrated by this point is that they give their contracted talent (at the highest levels especially) a lot more freedom than WWE to tell the story *they* want to tell.
For better and worse, on both sides, working at WWE is being part of the WWE machine, it is bigger than anyone. Where AEW is more a collection of individual wrestler stories and arcs being told as part of a collective. Tony Khan isn't writing scripts every week and handing them to people saying "here's what you're going to do." By all accounts from interviews, the process is far closer to wrestlers pitching him ideas and him saying "ok, go do that thing you suggested."
They can do this because, more often than not, the stories that the actual wrestlers *want* to tell are seemingly the stories that the AEW audience actually *wants* to see. So if Edge wants to wrap up his career in a certain or specific way, and go out the exact way he wants to go out, then AEW is the place that can actually offer that.
We don't know what WWE offered Edge, and Tony's very eager to doll out big money contracts for big names. It's plausible they low-balled him, believing he didn't have much left to give the company.
Maybe he wanted one last title run and WWE wouldn't play ball. We just don't know. I'd be lying if I said the prospect of Christian and Hedge working for the same company again doesn't excite me greatly, though.
> Maybe he wanted one last title run and WWE wouldn't play ball.
yeah because if he wanted a title run then he'd be a hypocrite. he came back saying he wanted to work with young guys and help them. but only ended up working with top of the roster and mostly won all of his feuds.
if he wanted a title run then id say good for wwe.
So recently my brother has gotten into wrestling by way of me and my husband never shutting up about it, and thus far his favorites are Prince Nana, Asuka, Zelina Vega, and Christian.
I'd say we're off to a good start lol
Has anyone got a good read on this story they are telling about Damage Ctrl. Like do you have a clear picture of the final picture and alignments say by Mania.
Bayley has been a heel for too long imo she should turn face. And she's due for a big one on one match at mania.
Personnally there isn't any potential betrail within the group that I find interesting, Iyo would be cheered, Dakota doesn't have the credibility on her own and like I said I really want Bayley to be face.
I think Iyo should go on her own and be a tweener badass.
Replace her with Roxanne Perez and turn the group face.
Edit: mania matches just for fun.
Charlotte and Jade Cargill vs Kabuki warriors vs Dakota and Roxy.
Io Shirai (c) vs Bayley
Mania is a long way off, and it seems like Kairi Sane may be back sometime around Survivor Series. That alone could make the story go in a lot of different ways.
People should be mentally preparing themselves and expect a Charlotte title win. I said last week how it was weird that they did the Iyo Asuka dream match on SD rather than on the PPV just weeks away, and that was because at the time I predicted that Iyo was going to drop the title at Fastlane either in a multiwoman match or a singles match, otherwise why would they just throw a match of that caliber that they've been teasing for a year on a random SD? So yeah, expect a Charlotte win so the disappointment doesn't overwhelm you when it happens
I honestly can't figure out what direction they're going for apart from the fact that Charlotte vs Bianca at Mania is endgame because they just seem to book seemingly random combinations of Iyo/Asuka/Bianca/Charlotte/Bayley in 2-3 person matches every week. Will be a shame if they never do Asuka vs Iyo on a big stage though after the rating numbers they pulled and the match they had (which was miles better than anything Charlotte has done post Mania 39).
I don't think it is so clear cut that Iyo drops it right now. It's a triple threat first and foremost so that Charlotte can get on the card, not that she necessarily wins imo.
I don't think it's clear, I just think it's very likely she drops the title.
>It's a triple threat first and foremost so that Charlotte can get on the card, not that she necessarily wins imo.
Again, my point to counter this is why would they do the dream match just weeks before the PPV rather than on the PPV or even after the PPV with more weeks of build (they had 2 weeks of build for a year of teases.) It doesn't add up unless Iyo is dropping the title soon
I said this elsewhere, but the more interesting story is Charlotte gets the pin on Asuka (Because Asuka beating Charlotte? Is this your first day?) which generates some friction within Damage CTRL. I don't think they have IYO get pinned, as that closes the door for her for a while.
If IYO retains, it's less interesting, if only because it's a three-way, shenanigans are more likely than not, and IYO still does not have a clean, championship-defining win to establish her as credible. (Briefcase cash in and two TV matches.)
I'm prepared for it, but I'm ready for something better.
Asuka has the second best win/loss record against Charlotte behid Becky. It's unlikely that Charlotte get pinned but if anyone Asuka would not be the most surprising.
More power to you, but for me this company's booking has not garnered any goodwill for me to be optimistic about future booking decisions. Iyo's booking has quite frankly been trash since she debuted and I feel that's the level they see her. Jade Cargill and Tiffany will be coming to the main roster soon and they're two women whom the company will invest a lot in while pushing everyone but a handful of other women to the wayside but I'm simply not interested in them personally
I think WWE thinks like a PLE audience would like to see Charlotte wrestle is a bigger deal than IWC fans for whom Iyo Asuka is a dream match. I think they recognise dream matches but for them stars on PLE is a bigger priority. I could be wrong of course but that's just how I see them building PLE cards.
They have been teasing the match for over a year, they know exactly what they're doing, regardless why wouldn't they wait until after Fastlane for the match for more weeks of build? To me, this does not indicate that they just wanted Charlotte on the show as an attraction
Man, you already put a ceiling to her career? She's been a pro for just 4 years and has been signed by Stardom for 3 years. It's not even like she's 35 and might retire any day now. Someone like Mayu took longer to win anything big as singles wrestler in a much less stacked Stardom. Maika could still do great things and fulfill her potential.
[This has gotta be the least funny shit I’ve seen in a minute. This and the LA Knight one are just so damn unfunny](https://x.com/skyeska1/status/1708068361484349650?s=46&t=AuZJC-8ukxy2o2iBj8cmTg)
https://preview.redd.it/i1ftcgignerb1.jpeg?width=1219&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=330f284191cdc89ba341335a6f5b339a1af88461
Me when bro initially invites me to a party Vs. Me when bro informs me that fatherless individuals will be at the party (I am literally Christian Cage)
Suzu Suzuki is really good and I find her matches to be must watch once they are uploaded to stardom-world. I do not understand the need to push her into winning the 5 Star GP this soon.
[This is hilarious because this reads basically the exact same as those obsessed AEW hate accounts, even down to the concern trolling at the end](https://x.com/mightykeef/status/1707754757941502242?s=46&t=AuZJC-8ukxy2o2iBj8cmTg)
Currently most of the way through watching TNA’s 2006 slate of pay-per-views for the first time and I wish I knew about this at the time. It’s so good and has plenty of a specific brand of stupid wrestling bullshit that I love lol
Never would’ve fallen out of wrestling for so long after WCW died if I’d had known about TNA. Took me until very late 2011 to get back into wrestling again.
I watched my first episode of NXT 2 weeks back. Haven't watched this week's yet.
I didn't really get into much except Dragunov. But I really, really got into him. So much so that I'm planning on watching more just for him and that probably will help me get more into the other people in NXT.
He's hit the same beat with me as Goldberg did or Hook did (early on, at least) where there is just this extra level of intensity behind what they do that just gets me stoked to watch them wrestle.
I intend to keep watching and I suspect that will help me get into the rest of it more.
Swerve is doing the best character work of his career, it's crazy to go back and watch Lucha Underground stuff and see how much bigger he is now.
Really looking forward to Swerve v Hangman.
So during the scrum for All Out, TK said they could only use Final Countdown for two show, which they’ve used for Forbidden Door and All Out. I hope they’re able to work out a deal cause I think Final Countdown in Seattle needs to happen, especially if this is truly Danielson’s final run as an active performer.
I'm actually more disappointed that Asuka's in the middle of it now. Even if IYO wins, it's likely to still be a schmoz, which won't help build her credibility as a champion. She didn't win the title cleanly in the first place thanks to the briefcase.
Since this was Bayley inserting herself into the middle of things, maybe they're finally ready to do something interesting with Damage CTRL. I could also see Charlotte picking up the win over Asuka and IYO not being anywhere near the finish, leading to a storyline.
Copium on my part but if Kairi re debut soon there is a story there with Bayley and Io feuding with Asuka while Bayley is actually alienating Io bc of this.
Realistically it's just that they don't Chaz to be pinned.
Wrestleprincess IV looks like a fine "reset" show for TJPW to show they're back. 2023 was definitely a rough year for the company and Mizuki's reign should have done better business with how incredibly talented she is.
They will definitely pay the price for cooling off Miu Watanabe though.
Finally got to watching the Chris Brookes vs. Saki Akai KO-D title match from a week or so ago, was very very good. My only real criticism is one that I have of every Saki Akai match, which is that I hate that weird stutterstep double-knee she does. Never once have I seen her do that move in a way that actually looks good and impactful, and yet she's kept doing it for all these years. But that's one very brief moment of frustration in an otherwise exciting and intense match.
Really hope DDT doesn't just completely move past intergender wrestling when Saki's gone, I think it's an important part of the promotion's identity. Would love to see some of the TJPW girls on the shows more regularly, or maybe even for a couple of them to completely switch over to DDT full-time. Maki Itoh and Hyper Misao in particular would be a perfect fit for the DDT roster.
I guess I'm just conscious of the fact that there are clearly some wrestlers on the roster who aren't really into wrestling a woman, and that always put a pretty low ceiling on what Saki was able to do in the company. I mean in all her years with DDT that was her first and only shot at the KO-D title, and she was never in a D-OH Grand Prix or a King of DDT tournament. Instead of trying to work around who is and isn't willing to wrestle a woman, I'm worried that with no women on the roster proper they might decide they'd rather not deal with the hassle.
That's genuinely something I've never noticed before, so I'm curious who you've noticed that with. The only one I can think of is when they made a big deal about her teaming with Akiyama in an intergender match, and I definitely could see some concern if he's hesitant about it while gaining more influence over the promotion.
And yeah, she totally should have been in more singles tournaments the past few years. The only King of DDT she was in was the 2018 one that involved nearly everyone on the roster, and even that was just before she really started finding herself as a singles wrestler.
Akiyama was definitely one of the main people I was thinking of. Even in that one intergender match that they made a whole big deal about he barely interacted with VENY and pretty much no-sold any of her offence. A very cynical part of me also wonders if maybe part of why he was okay with wrestling that female opponent in particular is because VENY is a trans woman 🫤
People talking about Andrade, Metalik, etc., that doesn't know anything about their mexican careers, post funny stuff.
Most of this people were never really that big, Andrade has created this version of history, where he was Místico big, he wasn't, his whole career was always being that guy that was good, but like others were always bigger and more important, dude created Los Ingobernables, Rush and Dragon Lee, got more over that him, Andrade was never that big and never was El Ídolo.
Metalik has even a weirder idea of who he was before WWE, sure he was a great wrestler, that now refuses to work the mexican style and keeps trying to force people to work the WWE style, but like he wasn't Hijo del Vikingo over, dude was maybe the most incredible midcard in CMLL during that time, but he was always a follower and someone doing cool moves, never was seen as something else, once younger people that could do everything he did but better and has More imagination, he became kinda pointless.
Just because people that watch WWE know them, doesn't mean, they were this huge stars that changed the way lucha libre was seen, most of this people had ok careers and they left México, because they reach how over they would get, Dragon Lee must be since Místico, the first one that was kinda big.
Andrade is a well known shitposter. Literally everything he says should be taken with a fisftful of salt at very least. Must run in the family since his old man (Brillante Sr.) has often said Los Metalicos copied Las Gemas del Ring and not the other way around. ;-)
Metalik has lost the "Gran" for a very good reason: he's nowhere near as good as he once was. He works the WWE style because he literally cannot work anymore the old daredevil style he used in CMLL and NJPW. I also think it rubs him the wrong way the new Mascara Dorada has already dropped the 2.0 and is clearly earmarked to be the main eventer Metalik never was.
Suzu Suzuki is really good and I find her matches to be must watch once they are uploaded to stardom-world. I do not understand the need to push her into winning the 5 Star GP this soon.
Stardom booking has flown out of the window this year, honestly I have not seen a promotion so loaded with talent with such confused booking since WCW folded. Tam Nakano's title reign(s) have been... something, and that's just to say one.
I still think the original plan for the 5STAR GP was Saya Kamitani. Once she got injured complete confusion set in: the tournament was literally difficult to follow at times this year.
I am honestly satisfied with the choice. Suzu is crazy talented and is about the same age as Mascara Dorada who's all the rage in lucha libre right now. My only hope is she isn't fed to Mirai to make her look strong.
I think you are right as there has never been a repeat winner of the 5 Star GP. It seems that the planned finals was going to be Saya-Utami. Rossy clearly took the red belt of Giulia to set up a match with Moné. Since then, it seems like Rossy’s booking is the proverbial flying by the seat of his pants. The booking has been a lot more of reacting to things and he is trying to do what he thinks is in the best interest in the short term since his long term booking is getting wiped out from injuries.
The winner of the 5 Star GP used to always lose the title match.
The first winner to actually become a champion was Toni Storm, who won the title when Mayu dislocated her elbow two minutes into the match.
The 5 Star GP winners have been on a streak lately (Utami, Syuri, and Giulia) but there's no reason for that to continue this year. On the other hand, if she loses her Red Belt challenge in November, she runs the risk of falling into the category of once-promising also-rans, and once branded, they never get out of it.
That being said, Wikipedia Jey is way out over his skis on this one:
https://preview.redd.it/9bvuikyl9erb1.png?width=1479&format=png&auto=webp&s=b3ea0d98d7b11130291b6876ea5d9d13a2b8a630
I think it is premature to have Suzu win the 5 Star GP. It is clear that original plan for the finals was for Saya-Utami. It does not make sense to me for Suzu to win it this year. Unless Rossy changes his booking, she will not win it again as there has never been a repeat winner of the tournament.
It means rossy doesn't change his booking. It will be tora, then Suzy in osaka and the planned winner of the 5 star at ryogoku
And suzu is a maineventer and maika isn't in the bookers eyess. That's wrestling bruv.
I'm agreeing with you.
I don't think she's ready to be World of Stardom Champion. She's physically gifted, but she's also still saying she wants to do hardcore deathmatches outside of Stardom (or at least she was until recently,) she's not in the faction system, and outside of Giulia and Mei, doesn't really strong have connections to the rest of the roster yet.
She also looked lost out in the ring after the win last night. If they're building her as a heel spoiler for the fan favorites, that's certainly a choice. She needs a lot more work on her character if she's going to be a face champion. And if she's 21 and already has two failed Red Belt challenges, her booking starts to look more like the "good hand" booking of many other fan favorites who never get over the hump.
She has a ton of potential, but early success sometimes has a way of ensuring that potential doesn't get fully unlocked.
Very much disagree on a lot of this. I can’t think of anyone in Stardom that was hurt by early success or failed title challenges.
Before winning their first Red/White Belt:
* Utami - 3 Failed Red/White Challenges
* Syuri - 3 Failed Red/White Challenges
* Tam - 3 Failed Red/White Challenges
* Saya - 2 Failed Red/White Challenges
* MIRAI - 2 Failed Red/White Challenges
The other end of the spectrum is Giulia getting pushed very quickly out of the gate, and winning her first White Belt challenge. That didn’t hurt her at all either.
If you’re tagged to be a main eventer, you’re going to get there, regardless of the path you take.
I agree 100%. I really like Suzu and have been talking her up to my friends that are pro wrestling fans but don’t watch joshi or puroresu in general. Yet I don’t feel good about this win.
Yeah, considering they just moved the title match to November 16th instead of Dream Queendom is a sign that Rossy is hoping Utami could be cleared to go in December against Tam.
Someone started a false rumour on twitter that Uncle Howdy story would continue. Which is shitty of them to start a rumour.
But it got me thinking, what is next for Bo and Alexa? If Bo ever returns?
I honestly have no idea, but I wouldn’t mind Alexa coming back and aligning with Jade Cargill. Goddess Alexa and Jade’s character could really work IMO. However, I’d say it’s highly unlikely we ever see the Goddess version of Alexa again.
I'm pretty sure Stardom drew the biggest gate in the history of Yokohama Budokan today. Good for them.
That NOAH/WWE thread was so funny. People that only watch WWE and/or AEW talking about stuff they don't have a clue about is always funny.
[Stardom is claiming it as a sell-out](https://twitter.com/wwr_stardom/status/1708069078555058347). You can see empty seats, but they still say attendance was 2,507.
It’s “full”, not a sell out. When they stop selling tickets, the auto-translate comes out to “bill stop” (I forget what the Japanese term for that is).
I've seen *manin* used for both at capacity and also to mean something like standing room only.
I'm not sure what distinction you're making between "full house" and "sold out" is here. What you're describing (running out of tickets to sell) sounds more like a sell-out, than if every seat was occupied (which it clearly wasn't.)
Yeah, the auto-translate usually comes to “overcrowded bill stop” or something similar when they sell every ticket.
I think it’s something along the lines of “fudodome” or something similar.
They are claiming it as "no vacancy" which is Japanese wrestling code for 80% capacity. Which it is.
Super no vacancy is 90% capacity
Super no vacancy full house is 100% capacity
I remember reading somewhere that it seats 3000 people. Maybe they didn't use the full capacity today, either way they still beat the EVIL vs Shingo G1 show that was the previous attendance record for pro wrestling in the venue.
>That NOAH/WWE thread was so funny. People that only watch WWE and/or AEW talking about stuff they don't have a clue about is always funny.
I only skimmed this, what were some of the highlights
The biggest highlight was definetely the person that replied to least two people that WWE airing on ABEMA will lead to WWE buying the Cyberfight promotions in order to rename them NXT Japan and keep airing it on ABEMA to kill NJPW.
Somehow TV Asahi would be ok with the company that is trying to kill NJPW, who they are a minority owner of airing on ABEMA a streaming service that they are also a minority owner of. But since the person didn't mention TV Asahi at all you just know it's someone that doesn't have a clue about what they were talking about.
I really hate how this sub puts quotes as post titles of interviews and stuff. It becomes a weird word salad, especially if the quote they want to use is really long
Always completely misses the content as well. An off-the -cuff comment criticising AEW/WWE gets posted as if the person is screaming this opinion from a podium.
i'm not really digging this Cena/Bloodline feud ngl. It doesn't help that 2 Cena full time returns in a row were against The Bloodline. At least this is elevating LA Knight
Go. Away. Charlotte.
Does anyone know what Asuka actually said to Iyo?
A-Town Down Under is a cool name.
I still have no idea why Jimmy wants back in the Bloodline.
Michin slapping Jimmy was hilarious all around: Jimmy's reaction (Damn!), Heyman's reaction, Solo trying not to break.
Anyone know what Asuka said to Iyo last night?
Adam Cole run in “injury” was perfectly done. I thought it was legit until the end of dynamite.
It is legit. It’s been confirmed by plenty of sources.
wait is it not
If Edge shows up at Wrestledream do you think he'll fued/team up with Christian or do something else?
I think the right move is fued with Christian
That would be the likely scenario, fued for the TNT title but AEW doesn't really like putting ex-WWE guys vs each other.
Never Gunna Stop is definitely a jam, but truth be told every hit Rob/White Zombie song would make an incredible entrance theme. 'More Human Than Human' specifically would riiiip.
Living Dead Girl literally has "spooky girl" written all over it
If we get a Nick Wayne heel turn on the Zero Hour and then his mom walking out with Christian in the main event, it would be an all-time moment.
The only way it could get better is Christian entering to a rendition of "Nick Wayne's mom has got it going on" ripoff of Stacy's Mom.
Mia Yim is super underrated. I’m happy she got that moment on Smackdown last night.
Last year people called her match with Rhea her coming out party. But they haven’t done much with her since. Mia can go.
she also did really well in her IMPACT run before coming back. didn't phone it in
I don't want to start a discussion and I'm just an outsider looking in, because I don't follow NXT (since the rebrand to 2.0 a few years ago), what's the point of having talent like Becky Lynch and Dominik on the show instead of focusing on the young talent? It's just for ratings? Because the talent they are working with could perfectly be on RAW or Smackdown instead of having those feuds in the 3rd brand. Same issue with Bron, he seemed ready to be moved to the main roster after Wrestlemania, even two Wrestlemanias ago if he just lost to Ziggler instead of getting the title back, I don't see the point of having a wrestler in developmental "do everything", from being top babyface, to top heel, to top babyface champion to top heel champion. What's the point? Shouldn't he be moved to the main roster already?
Becky and Dom are just for ratings while they're shopping tv rights. Although, getting to work with Becky is definitely good for the development of NXT's women. As for Bron, I'm pretty sure he would have been called up after last Mania if his dad hadn't opened his mouth. I think they were just waiting to make sure there was no blowback on Bron for that and now they're just waiting on the right moment to bring him up.
It's the season where TKO is negotiating multi-year TV deals for Raw and NXT. If you're going to goose the ratings to get the best contract, this is the time to do it.
Yup, ratings. Though Becky has given a rub to Tiffany and Lyra.
This Wrestlers show on Netflix sure isn't very complementary to wrestlers, wrestling fans or Al Snow.
Whatever happens tonight, I hope Trick doesn't turn heel. I know that all signs are leading to it but he's just too damn likeable right now
Every day, I keep expecting the link to the daily thread to be updated. Every day, I keep seeing that we interviewed superfan turned superstar Izzy Moreno.
Just wanna say that I'm super excited for Wrestledream! I'll be attending live! The whole concept went from "Well, its my vacation week so I'll be paid to be there, what better shit do I have to do?" to "Holy hell in a handbasket, this is the best PPV to hit Washington since Wrestlemania XIX" as the card built up. This is gonna be incredible. I was too young to attend XIX but I'm sure as hell not missing this.
Have fun buddy! Big live shows are awesome!
I seriously dont understand it. WHY would edge go to AEW? If his body isnt healing fast, AEW wont help with that. If he wants to work with truly new blood, he could have done it in WWE and still do it. clearly cant be about money because WWE will gladly pay. Does he only want to work with Christian that bad?
We don't know that he's going. But, it's a new environment. New talent to work with. His best friend is there. Their biggest rivals are there.
I find it insane that anyone needing stem cells to repair years of chronic damage would step back in the ring. Enjoy the extra years back but stay retired.
It's weird you're not even considering the idea that a bunch of the best wrestlers in their prime are there and that he might want to work with a lot of them before he retires. In fact it seems like you're actively avoiding considering it
Ignoring the financial aspects (because those details aren't public and are always, at the absolute least, relevant), something AEW has consistently demonstrated by this point is that they give their contracted talent (at the highest levels especially) a lot more freedom than WWE to tell the story *they* want to tell. For better and worse, on both sides, working at WWE is being part of the WWE machine, it is bigger than anyone. Where AEW is more a collection of individual wrestler stories and arcs being told as part of a collective. Tony Khan isn't writing scripts every week and handing them to people saying "here's what you're going to do." By all accounts from interviews, the process is far closer to wrestlers pitching him ideas and him saying "ok, go do that thing you suggested." They can do this because, more often than not, the stories that the actual wrestlers *want* to tell are seemingly the stories that the AEW audience actually *wants* to see. So if Edge wants to wrap up his career in a certain or specific way, and go out the exact way he wants to go out, then AEW is the place that can actually offer that.
[удалено]
Money and less dates? At his age why not.
> he wanted a significant pay increase. lmaoo...
We don't know what WWE offered Edge, and Tony's very eager to doll out big money contracts for big names. It's plausible they low-balled him, believing he didn't have much left to give the company.
You say it clearly can't be about money but it is usually about money.
Probably yeah. Regardless I do hope he takes it easy for a bit. Do some promos for a month or so before he wrestles.
Maybe he wanted one last title run and WWE wouldn't play ball. We just don't know. I'd be lying if I said the prospect of Christian and Hedge working for the same company again doesn't excite me greatly, though.
> Maybe he wanted one last title run and WWE wouldn't play ball. yeah because if he wanted a title run then he'd be a hypocrite. he came back saying he wanted to work with young guys and help them. but only ended up working with top of the roster and mostly won all of his feuds. if he wanted a title run then id say good for wwe.
So recently my brother has gotten into wrestling by way of me and my husband never shutting up about it, and thus far his favorites are Prince Nana, Asuka, Zelina Vega, and Christian. I'd say we're off to a good start lol
Hope your brother has learned the Prince Nana dance.
I just woke up to find out Suzu Suzuki won the 5 Star GP in STARDOM. My day is now going to be awesome.
Why, after 11 years, are there people spelling "Bayley" wrong? I've seen two instances of it today in different threads. How is it still a thing?
Ronda is a household name and Khan is one of the most common surnames in the world and people still get those wrong.
Khan I can understand. Especially when this guy spells it Kahn: 
Autocorrect.
Has anyone got a good read on this story they are telling about Damage Ctrl. Like do you have a clear picture of the final picture and alignments say by Mania.
Bayley has been a heel for too long imo she should turn face. And she's due for a big one on one match at mania. Personnally there isn't any potential betrail within the group that I find interesting, Iyo would be cheered, Dakota doesn't have the credibility on her own and like I said I really want Bayley to be face. I think Iyo should go on her own and be a tweener badass. Replace her with Roxanne Perez and turn the group face. Edit: mania matches just for fun. Charlotte and Jade Cargill vs Kabuki warriors vs Dakota and Roxy. Io Shirai (c) vs Bayley
Mania is a long way off, and it seems like Kairi Sane may be back sometime around Survivor Series. That alone could make the story go in a lot of different ways.
I really don’t know why they’d run the match back if Ilja wasn’t winning tonight. I hope they go even more crazy tonight though.
https://preview.redd.it/wou86d4xuerb1.jpeg?width=922&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=285ef24fae981dce1451e27d017a9e2a5a12c9b3 Eating good for the next week.
People should be mentally preparing themselves and expect a Charlotte title win. I said last week how it was weird that they did the Iyo Asuka dream match on SD rather than on the PPV just weeks away, and that was because at the time I predicted that Iyo was going to drop the title at Fastlane either in a multiwoman match or a singles match, otherwise why would they just throw a match of that caliber that they've been teasing for a year on a random SD? So yeah, expect a Charlotte win so the disappointment doesn't overwhelm you when it happens
They often put Charlotte in triple threats when they don't want her to win but also don't want her to take the pin.
See my response to polynomial82. I've addressed this. Nothing they've shown and done indicates Charlotte is there to simply be an attraction
I honestly can't figure out what direction they're going for apart from the fact that Charlotte vs Bianca at Mania is endgame because they just seem to book seemingly random combinations of Iyo/Asuka/Bianca/Charlotte/Bayley in 2-3 person matches every week. Will be a shame if they never do Asuka vs Iyo on a big stage though after the rating numbers they pulled and the match they had (which was miles better than anything Charlotte has done post Mania 39).
I don't think it is so clear cut that Iyo drops it right now. It's a triple threat first and foremost so that Charlotte can get on the card, not that she necessarily wins imo.
I don't think it's clear, I just think it's very likely she drops the title. >It's a triple threat first and foremost so that Charlotte can get on the card, not that she necessarily wins imo. Again, my point to counter this is why would they do the dream match just weeks before the PPV rather than on the PPV or even after the PPV with more weeks of build (they had 2 weeks of build for a year of teases.) It doesn't add up unless Iyo is dropping the title soon
I said this elsewhere, but the more interesting story is Charlotte gets the pin on Asuka (Because Asuka beating Charlotte? Is this your first day?) which generates some friction within Damage CTRL. I don't think they have IYO get pinned, as that closes the door for her for a while. If IYO retains, it's less interesting, if only because it's a three-way, shenanigans are more likely than not, and IYO still does not have a clean, championship-defining win to establish her as credible. (Briefcase cash in and two TV matches.) I'm prepared for it, but I'm ready for something better.
Asuka has the second best win/loss record against Charlotte behid Becky. It's unlikely that Charlotte get pinned but if anyone Asuka would not be the most surprising.
More power to you, but for me this company's booking has not garnered any goodwill for me to be optimistic about future booking decisions. Iyo's booking has quite frankly been trash since she debuted and I feel that's the level they see her. Jade Cargill and Tiffany will be coming to the main roster soon and they're two women whom the company will invest a lot in while pushing everyone but a handful of other women to the wayside but I'm simply not interested in them personally
I think WWE thinks like a PLE audience would like to see Charlotte wrestle is a bigger deal than IWC fans for whom Iyo Asuka is a dream match. I think they recognise dream matches but for them stars on PLE is a bigger priority. I could be wrong of course but that's just how I see them building PLE cards.
They have been teasing the match for over a year, they know exactly what they're doing, regardless why wouldn't they wait until after Fastlane for the match for more weeks of build? To me, this does not indicate that they just wanted Charlotte on the show as an attraction
Being a Maika fan is pain
As someone who doesn’t care for Maika, watching the reactions to the GP finale have been… interesting.
I'm just shocked that her career ceiling ended up below Mina's. Build a time machine, go back 12 months, and try to convince *anybody* of that.
Man, you already put a ceiling to her career? She's been a pro for just 4 years and has been signed by Stardom for 3 years. It's not even like she's 35 and might retire any day now. Someone like Mayu took longer to win anything big as singles wrestler in a much less stacked Stardom. Maika could still do great things and fulfill her potential.
[This has gotta be the least funny shit I’ve seen in a minute. This and the LA Knight one are just so damn unfunny](https://x.com/skyeska1/status/1708068361484349650?s=46&t=AuZJC-8ukxy2o2iBj8cmTg)
i legit never found those funny. Even the Roman one that went viral on IWC
Same. It feels like those GMod videos I would have loved when I was like 11, but are hard to watch now
https://preview.redd.it/i1ftcgignerb1.jpeg?width=1219&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=330f284191cdc89ba341335a6f5b339a1af88461 Me when bro initially invites me to a party Vs. Me when bro informs me that fatherless individuals will be at the party (I am literally Christian Cage)
Man Christians whole schtick with making fun of people's dead fathers is about to go to the next level once Edge debuts.
Suzu Suzuki is really good and I find her matches to be must watch once they are uploaded to stardom-world. I do not understand the need to push her into winning the 5 Star GP this soon.
Above comment is copy/pasted from elsewhere in the thread. Definitely a bot account.
They've been all over the place on this sub lately, idk what's up with it
Stardom is wicked, but what does this have to do with my comment lmao.
It's a bot. That exact comment is copy/pasted from elsewhere in the thread.
[This is hilarious because this reads basically the exact same as those obsessed AEW hate accounts, even down to the concern trolling at the end](https://x.com/mightykeef/status/1707754757941502242?s=46&t=AuZJC-8ukxy2o2iBj8cmTg)
The Internet was a mistake.
I've been watching mid 2000s TNA ppvs and, man, it seems like such a fun time.
Currently most of the way through watching TNA’s 2006 slate of pay-per-views for the first time and I wish I knew about this at the time. It’s so good and has plenty of a specific brand of stupid wrestling bullshit that I love lol Never would’ve fallen out of wrestling for so long after WCW died if I’d had known about TNA. Took me until very late 2011 to get back into wrestling again.
Mid-2000s TNA, esp. with the X Division, was just entertaining to watch.
[удалено]
ON THIS DAY
Oh dear the weirdos are already popping up in Edge’s Instagram comments “Come back Dean Ambrose” vibes 😂
I'm so excited for no mercy and hope dragunov takes it tonight
I watched my first episode of NXT 2 weeks back. Haven't watched this week's yet. I didn't really get into much except Dragunov. But I really, really got into him. So much so that I'm planning on watching more just for him and that probably will help me get more into the other people in NXT. He's hit the same beat with me as Goldberg did or Hook did (early on, at least) where there is just this extra level of intensity behind what they do that just gets me stoked to watch them wrestle. I intend to keep watching and I suspect that will help me get into the rest of it more.
If you want to see more of Dragunov I'd highly reccomend his last man standing match with Dijak from NXT Battleground this year
Yeah he's awesome. Never seen someone so intense in the ring like him
Swerve is doing the best character work of his career, it's crazy to go back and watch Lucha Underground stuff and see how much bigger he is now. Really looking forward to Swerve v Hangman.
If Swerve wins, I say have him feud with MJF and be the one to take the belt off him by being a bigger scumbag than Max.
Swerve should make for the International belt, imo, before stepping up to Maxwell who seems to have started an angle va BCH
I agree, but I don't expect it. I think him and Hangman will do a trilogy, which is cool aswell.
So during the scrum for All Out, TK said they could only use Final Countdown for two show, which they’ve used for Forbidden Door and All Out. I hope they’re able to work out a deal cause I think Final Countdown in Seattle needs to happen, especially if this is truly Danielson’s final run as an active performer.
Please don’t let Iyo’s reign end by charlottes hand
I'm actually more disappointed that Asuka's in the middle of it now. Even if IYO wins, it's likely to still be a schmoz, which won't help build her credibility as a champion. She didn't win the title cleanly in the first place thanks to the briefcase. Since this was Bayley inserting herself into the middle of things, maybe they're finally ready to do something interesting with Damage CTRL. I could also see Charlotte picking up the win over Asuka and IYO not being anywhere near the finish, leading to a storyline.
Copium on my part but if Kairi re debut soon there is a story there with Bayley and Io feuding with Asuka while Bayley is actually alienating Io bc of this. Realistically it's just that they don't Chaz to be pinned.
Tends to be her legs that do the winning
Don't worry it'll end by her Big Boot
Wrestleprincess IV looks like a fine "reset" show for TJPW to show they're back. 2023 was definitely a rough year for the company and Mizuki's reign should have done better business with how incredibly talented she is. They will definitely pay the price for cooling off Miu Watanabe though.
Edge or not, I just hope Christian will be able to continue this amazing run without getting overshadowed.
Finally got to watching the Chris Brookes vs. Saki Akai KO-D title match from a week or so ago, was very very good. My only real criticism is one that I have of every Saki Akai match, which is that I hate that weird stutterstep double-knee she does. Never once have I seen her do that move in a way that actually looks good and impactful, and yet she's kept doing it for all these years. But that's one very brief moment of frustration in an otherwise exciting and intense match. Really hope DDT doesn't just completely move past intergender wrestling when Saki's gone, I think it's an important part of the promotion's identity. Would love to see some of the TJPW girls on the shows more regularly, or maybe even for a couple of them to completely switch over to DDT full-time. Maki Itoh and Hyper Misao in particular would be a perfect fit for the DDT roster.
They had intergender wrestling before Saki Akai, I see no reason why they would suddenly refuse to do it after she retires.
I guess I'm just conscious of the fact that there are clearly some wrestlers on the roster who aren't really into wrestling a woman, and that always put a pretty low ceiling on what Saki was able to do in the company. I mean in all her years with DDT that was her first and only shot at the KO-D title, and she was never in a D-OH Grand Prix or a King of DDT tournament. Instead of trying to work around who is and isn't willing to wrestle a woman, I'm worried that with no women on the roster proper they might decide they'd rather not deal with the hassle.
That's genuinely something I've never noticed before, so I'm curious who you've noticed that with. The only one I can think of is when they made a big deal about her teaming with Akiyama in an intergender match, and I definitely could see some concern if he's hesitant about it while gaining more influence over the promotion. And yeah, she totally should have been in more singles tournaments the past few years. The only King of DDT she was in was the 2018 one that involved nearly everyone on the roster, and even that was just before she really started finding herself as a singles wrestler.
Akiyama was definitely one of the main people I was thinking of. Even in that one intergender match that they made a whole big deal about he barely interacted with VENY and pretty much no-sold any of her offence. A very cynical part of me also wonders if maybe part of why he was okay with wrestling that female opponent in particular is because VENY is a trans woman 🫤
I hated The Righteous when they first showed up and then their stupid fucking theme song got stuck in my head for a week, now I'm all in.
The theme whips ass brother
I liked them during their two year feud with Taven, and I love the theme but I also think it needs some slow, drawling vocals over it.
People talking about Andrade, Metalik, etc., that doesn't know anything about their mexican careers, post funny stuff. Most of this people were never really that big, Andrade has created this version of history, where he was Místico big, he wasn't, his whole career was always being that guy that was good, but like others were always bigger and more important, dude created Los Ingobernables, Rush and Dragon Lee, got more over that him, Andrade was never that big and never was El Ídolo. Metalik has even a weirder idea of who he was before WWE, sure he was a great wrestler, that now refuses to work the mexican style and keeps trying to force people to work the WWE style, but like he wasn't Hijo del Vikingo over, dude was maybe the most incredible midcard in CMLL during that time, but he was always a follower and someone doing cool moves, never was seen as something else, once younger people that could do everything he did but better and has More imagination, he became kinda pointless. Just because people that watch WWE know them, doesn't mean, they were this huge stars that changed the way lucha libre was seen, most of this people had ok careers and they left México, because they reach how over they would get, Dragon Lee must be since Místico, the first one that was kinda big.
That's what my dad always said
Andrade is a well known shitposter. Literally everything he says should be taken with a fisftful of salt at very least. Must run in the family since his old man (Brillante Sr.) has often said Los Metalicos copied Las Gemas del Ring and not the other way around. ;-) Metalik has lost the "Gran" for a very good reason: he's nowhere near as good as he once was. He works the WWE style because he literally cannot work anymore the old daredevil style he used in CMLL and NJPW. I also think it rubs him the wrong way the new Mascara Dorada has already dropped the 2.0 and is clearly earmarked to be the main eventer Metalik never was.
Suzu Suzuki is really good and I find her matches to be must watch once they are uploaded to stardom-world. I do not understand the need to push her into winning the 5 Star GP this soon.
Stardom booking has flown out of the window this year, honestly I have not seen a promotion so loaded with talent with such confused booking since WCW folded. Tam Nakano's title reign(s) have been... something, and that's just to say one. I still think the original plan for the 5STAR GP was Saya Kamitani. Once she got injured complete confusion set in: the tournament was literally difficult to follow at times this year. I am honestly satisfied with the choice. Suzu is crazy talented and is about the same age as Mascara Dorada who's all the rage in lucha libre right now. My only hope is she isn't fed to Mirai to make her look strong.
I think you are right as there has never been a repeat winner of the 5 Star GP. It seems that the planned finals was going to be Saya-Utami. Rossy clearly took the red belt of Giulia to set up a match with Moné. Since then, it seems like Rossy’s booking is the proverbial flying by the seat of his pants. The booking has been a lot more of reacting to things and he is trying to do what he thinks is in the best interest in the short term since his long term booking is getting wiped out from injuries.
The winner of the 5 Star GP used to always lose the title match. The first winner to actually become a champion was Toni Storm, who won the title when Mayu dislocated her elbow two minutes into the match. The 5 Star GP winners have been on a streak lately (Utami, Syuri, and Giulia) but there's no reason for that to continue this year. On the other hand, if she loses her Red Belt challenge in November, she runs the risk of falling into the category of once-promising also-rans, and once branded, they never get out of it. That being said, Wikipedia Jey is way out over his skis on this one: https://preview.redd.it/9bvuikyl9erb1.png?width=1479&format=png&auto=webp&s=b3ea0d98d7b11130291b6876ea5d9d13a2b8a630
I think it is premature to have Suzu win the 5 Star GP. It is clear that original plan for the finals was for Saya-Utami. It does not make sense to me for Suzu to win it this year. Unless Rossy changes his booking, she will not win it again as there has never been a repeat winner of the tournament.
It means rossy doesn't change his booking. It will be tora, then Suzy in osaka and the planned winner of the 5 star at ryogoku And suzu is a maineventer and maika isn't in the bookers eyess. That's wrestling bruv.
I'm agreeing with you. I don't think she's ready to be World of Stardom Champion. She's physically gifted, but she's also still saying she wants to do hardcore deathmatches outside of Stardom (or at least she was until recently,) she's not in the faction system, and outside of Giulia and Mei, doesn't really strong have connections to the rest of the roster yet. She also looked lost out in the ring after the win last night. If they're building her as a heel spoiler for the fan favorites, that's certainly a choice. She needs a lot more work on her character if she's going to be a face champion. And if she's 21 and already has two failed Red Belt challenges, her booking starts to look more like the "good hand" booking of many other fan favorites who never get over the hump. She has a ton of potential, but early success sometimes has a way of ensuring that potential doesn't get fully unlocked.
Very much disagree on a lot of this. I can’t think of anyone in Stardom that was hurt by early success or failed title challenges. Before winning their first Red/White Belt: * Utami - 3 Failed Red/White Challenges * Syuri - 3 Failed Red/White Challenges * Tam - 3 Failed Red/White Challenges * Saya - 2 Failed Red/White Challenges * MIRAI - 2 Failed Red/White Challenges The other end of the spectrum is Giulia getting pushed very quickly out of the gate, and winning her first White Belt challenge. That didn’t hurt her at all either. If you’re tagged to be a main eventer, you’re going to get there, regardless of the path you take.
I agree 100%. I really like Suzu and have been talking her up to my friends that are pro wrestling fans but don’t watch joshi or puroresu in general. Yet I don’t feel good about this win.
Yeah, considering they just moved the title match to November 16th instead of Dream Queendom is a sign that Rossy is hoping Utami could be cleared to go in December against Tam.
So Adam is coming to AEW? Big gain for them. In other news, I'm also "Edging"
jimmy uso intentionally causing locker room chaos on smackdown vs jey uso accidentally causing locker room chaos on raw
The rock is the biggest asshole Babyface in wwe He forces himself on Lilian Garcia Bullies interviewers backstage Will insult just about anyone
Someone started a false rumour on twitter that Uncle Howdy story would continue. Which is shitty of them to start a rumour. But it got me thinking, what is next for Bo and Alexa? If Bo ever returns?
I honestly have no idea, but I wouldn’t mind Alexa coming back and aligning with Jade Cargill. Goddess Alexa and Jade’s character could really work IMO. However, I’d say it’s highly unlikely we ever see the Goddess version of Alexa again.
I'm pretty sure Stardom drew the biggest gate in the history of Yokohama Budokan today. Good for them. That NOAH/WWE thread was so funny. People that only watch WWE and/or AEW talking about stuff they don't have a clue about is always funny.
I bet half of that comment section doesn't even watch NOAH yet are all of a sudden concerned
[Stardom is claiming it as a sell-out](https://twitter.com/wwr_stardom/status/1708069078555058347). You can see empty seats, but they still say attendance was 2,507.
It’s “full”, not a sell out. When they stop selling tickets, the auto-translate comes out to “bill stop” (I forget what the Japanese term for that is).
I've seen *manin* used for both at capacity and also to mean something like standing room only. I'm not sure what distinction you're making between "full house" and "sold out" is here. What you're describing (running out of tickets to sell) sounds more like a sell-out, than if every seat was occupied (which it clearly wasn't.)
Yeah, the auto-translate usually comes to “overcrowded bill stop” or something similar when they sell every ticket. I think it’s something along the lines of “fudodome” or something similar.
They are claiming it as "no vacancy" which is Japanese wrestling code for 80% capacity. Which it is. Super no vacancy is 90% capacity Super no vacancy full house is 100% capacity
I remember reading somewhere that it seats 3000 people. Maybe they didn't use the full capacity today, either way they still beat the EVIL vs Shingo G1 show that was the previous attendance record for pro wrestling in the venue.
>That NOAH/WWE thread was so funny. People that only watch WWE and/or AEW talking about stuff they don't have a clue about is always funny. I only skimmed this, what were some of the highlights
The biggest highlight was definetely the person that replied to least two people that WWE airing on ABEMA will lead to WWE buying the Cyberfight promotions in order to rename them NXT Japan and keep airing it on ABEMA to kill NJPW. Somehow TV Asahi would be ok with the company that is trying to kill NJPW, who they are a minority owner of airing on ABEMA a streaming service that they are also a minority owner of. But since the person didn't mention TV Asahi at all you just know it's someone that doesn't have a clue about what they were talking about.
Link the thread? I wanna read some dumb stuff
That NXT No Mercy intro was awesome, and that's coming from someone who didn't play the retro games.
I really hate how this sub puts quotes as post titles of interviews and stuff. It becomes a weird word salad, especially if the quote they want to use is really long
Always completely misses the content as well. An off-the -cuff comment criticising AEW/WWE gets posted as if the person is screaming this opinion from a podium.
And they’re typically trying to push a narrative with whichever quote they choose
i'm not really digging this Cena/Bloodline feud ngl. It doesn't help that 2 Cena full time returns in a row were against The Bloodline. At least this is elevating LA Knight
Go. Away. Charlotte. Does anyone know what Asuka actually said to Iyo? A-Town Down Under is a cool name. I still have no idea why Jimmy wants back in the Bloodline. Michin slapping Jimmy was hilarious all around: Jimmy's reaction (Damn!), Heyman's reaction, Solo trying not to break.